Process for polymerizing ethylenically unsaturated compounds using a sulfur containing catalyst



PROCESS FOR POLYNIERI ZIN G- ETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED COMPOUNDS USING A SUL- Robert Schmitz-Jost'en, Bergheihi (Er-ft), Germany, as signer; to Farlienfabriken Bayer Aktiengesells'chaft,

. Eeverkusen, Germany, a corporation" of Germany I NoDrawing. ApplicationMay 24,1955

. Serial- No. 510,838

Claiins'pribritya application Germany May as; use

4" @la'im's. (Cl; 2-60-4524) The present invention relates tothe polymerization of polymerizable organic compounds, such as compounds containing one or more ethylenically unsaturated double bonds.

It has been :Ebund that such polymeri'zable organic compounds may bepolymerized with the aid of catalysts of the formula B4 :Rs RX ii-C be particularlyment'ioned':

OlHi-S-,CHr-O COCHs -011. cm CH-CeHt-S-CHPCQ c do-chi cng. co-oni on; oH,o-oH,-s-oH,-o o I v I co ehi oni United States Patent 0 "ice may he prepared; for example, by ad'diti'onof mercapt'ans to the corresponding och-unsaturated compounds such as a-methylene acetoacetic' acid ester or ethylid'en'e cyanoacetic acid ester and subsequent oxidation to form the corresponding sulphonesi Moreover, these compounds may also be-prepared by addition of hydroxymethylt sulphides sucht as a compoundofthe formula hydroxy methyl sin hones and also: chloromethyl sulphides to compounds having movable hydrogen,- such as acetoacetic acid 1 esters, dimedone', cyclopentanone carboxylic acid esters inthe presence of acids, such as h'ydrochloric acids.- Furthermore, these: compounds may be obtained by: reacting a sulfinic acid, such as p'-toluenesulphinic acid with the aforementioned cap-unsaturated compoundaif: desiredin the; presence of a solvent and'of a basic catalyst;

There are many exceptionally" stable and storab'le' 1 compounds among the large 'n'u'rnber' of these novel polymerization activators. They have: a com aratively high activating effect on the polymerization. By addition of basically acting compounds, the polymerization'velocity may be increased to an exceptional degree. By basically acting compounds, there are to be understood inorganic and organic c'ompo'unds, such as, for example; primary, secondary and tertiaryamines, ammonia or quaternary ammonium bases or sulphonium bases, which may also he used: in'the form of their carboxylic acid. salts. Such compounds are for instance tertiary butylamine, morpholine, triethanolamine, benzylt'rimethyl-ammonium hydroxide, or the salts of. these compounds with acetic acid,

alsoth'ecorrespondingsulphones; These"comp'ounds"-' m'ethacryl'ic acid, stearic acid orother acids. Moreover, the polymerization velocity may be increased by adding water; alcohols, such as methanol, rnercaptan, B-dicarbonyl' compounds, such as acetic acid ester, dimedone, carboxylic acids, such as methacrylic' acid; stear'i'c' a'ci'd, carboxylic acid imides, dicarboxylic acidimid'es, such} as succinimides or phthalimides, carboxylic acid-'amides-such asacrylic acid amide.

It is obvious that the novel accelerators may also be used in combination with catalysts giving. ofloxyge'n such as benzoyl peroxide, etc.

Suitable compounds to be polymerized with the aid of the above catalysts are. for instance styrene, acrylic acid or methacrylic acid or esters thereof, such as methyl-, butyl--,, dodecyla or higher a1kylesters,. acrylonitril'e,,vinylchloride, organic vinylesters such as vinylacetat'e, butadi ene, derivatives ofbutadiene, or mixtures of thesecompounds. The novel catalysts "are also suitable for use with the copolymerization of vinyl compounds such as styrene with polyesters containingethylenic double bonds,

These accelerators have provedto be'partihularly suitable for the manufactureof dental plasticsin whi'cla' pbly mers are mixed with liquid polymerizable organic compounds and then polymerized. The esters of methacrylicu acid may be mainly considered forthis process; the sulphones amongthe'se" accelerators have Pearl polymer. g

--Compound number 1 The liquid consists of:

" g 1 NH; salt of maleic mono- .Commencement of polymer!- Maximum 'tifibijliiIIZI Reached in min.

be stable with respect to compounds giving all oxygen, the possibility exists, for example, of polymeric methyl methacrylate power being mixed with these sulphones and an agent giving 05 oxygen, such as benzoyl peroxide, and then stored. If a basically acting compound is added to monomeric methyl methacrylate, such a high polymerization velocity is obtained by mixing polymer powder and liquid, both of which are substantially stable, that final polymerization of the monomeric methyl methacrylateis produced without application of heat.

' Example 1 The elficacy of the novel accelerators and their action *inaccelerating polymerization is shown, for example, as

follows: 3 g. of a fine granular pearl polymer of 90% methyl methacrylate and 10% of the methyl ester of acrylic acid are mixed with 0.1 to 0.2 millimol of one of the novel accelerators and 0.1 to 0.2 g. of tertiary butyl 'permaleic acid. They are then mixed by stirring with 2'cc. of a monomer having a composition as indicated -in the tables. The initial temperature of the mixture is :20 to 22. The spontaneous heating of the samples due to the heat of polymerization being liberated is followed as a function of time. The tables indicate the commence- I ment of polymerization, and also the highest temperature reached during polymerization. The final hardening of the samples was completed to 30 minutes after reaching the maximum temperature.

The following accelerators were used:

1 oo-crr, cm-otm-soi-cn -cm-on o CO-O, oH, Melting point 175 C. (with decomposition) prepared by dissolving 1.5 g. of 5.5.-dimethyl-l.3-cyclohexanedione and 1.9 g. of p-toluyloxymethylsulphone in cc. of tetrahydrofurane, adding 0.1 g. of metallic sodium and keeping the mixture 2 days at 20 C. Thereafter the solvent is evaporated under vacuum and the residue is treated with 2 cc. of normal hydrochloric acid and a little ice. There are obtained 2 g. of a crude product which is crystallized from alcohol, whereby the compound of the above formula is separated from methyleneprepared by dissolving S g. of p-toluensulfinic acid in 20 cc. of alcohol and adding 5 g. of ethylideneacetoacetic acid ethylester. The reaction takes place with self-heating. The reaction product crystallizes after cooling the solution. The compound obtained is recrystallized from alcohol.

(4) (JO-CH; /CH;

o oo-o= \CH! Melting point 134 C.

3 6 cc. of a 30% aqueous formaldehyde solution and a solution of 42 g. of 5.5.-dimethyl-cyclohexane-1.3-dione in 100 cc. of methanol and 29.5 cc. of 10 normalNaOH are added one after the other to a solution of 17.5 g. of ethylmercaptane. To the solution then obtained there is added a mixture of 295 cc. of 1 normal hydrochloric acid and 100 cc. of methanol during three hours until the pH value of the mixture is 4. The mixture is diluted with water and the reaction product is sucked off, whereafter the latter is dried and mixed with 700 cc. of benzene in order to remove methylene-bis-dimethylcyclohexandione which has formed as a by-product. The product obtained is recrystallized from alcohol.

( (JO-CH1 CH;

ouH,.s-cH,cH o

oo-or r, on. Melting point 97 C. prepared from dodecyl mercaptan, formaldehyde and dimedone.

(6) (JO-CH;

V OHPCGE-$OFC 7 CH9 oo-cr n Melting point 169 C. (with decomposition) prepared from p-toluyl-hydroxymethyl-sulphone and dihydroresorcin with some metallic sodium.

The efiect's obtained with the different accelerators are shown in the following table.

The powder contains:

Tertiary butyl permaleic acid, g.

Amount in g Methyl methaerylate 00.-.. Methanrylic acid, cc Dlmcdone, g Morpholine. g

Diethylamine, 2

Diethanolnrnine, g Trtethanolamine, g

Ammonium methacrylate,

dodecyl ester; 2 Phthallmtde, g

'zat.. min 6 7.5 82 10 9} onr-otm-sorcn-on-oono.3,

H. o-ou,

Melting point 86. C.

HQ!" Mono n- H was:

ldi Now Hunscreen HUI l-Hhfi H Nam Hemcoco Example 2 3.4 g. of isopropylidene acetoacetic ester, 3.2 g. of p-toluene sulphinic acid, and 0.2 g; of the sodium salt of p-toluene' sulphinic acid are heated to C. for 15 minutes and mixed with 20 cc. of ether after cooling. The next day, the solution is filtered, evaporated and the residue recrystallized from alcohol. The compound prepared from formaldehyde, 5 semiqnercaptal bf 70 obtained meltsat 92 C. and corresponds to the formula: .cresol and the sodium salt of dimedone.

, cm oo-orr, Polymerization test: 3 g. of a pearl polymer of meth- COOC H a ry ic acid methvlester mix d? -MB-ffii t abo e s lphe e and 0,0 2- 9 tertia butyl permale acid. Thereupon 0.02 of morpholine. and 0.01 -'-g.-of methacrylic acid are dissolved in 1.9 cc. of monomeric met yl inethacrylate. By stirring the powder with the polymerization takes place withln 9 minutes.

. .Eztqma e 3 'l g. of ethylidene malonitrile'are mixed with '2 g. of p-toluene sulphinic acid. The reaction sets in with a substantial increase in temperature. The reaction product crystallizes upon cooling and is purified by recrystallizing it from methanol. The compound corresponds to the formula:

melting point: 96 C.

Polymerization test: An intimate mixture consisting of 0.06 g. of the above sulphone, 0.1 g. of benzoyl peroxide and 3 g. of polymethacrylic acid methyl ester in the form of pearls, is mixed with stirring with 2 cc. of a saturated solution of methacrylic acid amide in 'monomeric methacrylic acid methyl ester. The mixture hardens within 25 minutes with spontaneous heating.

Example 4 melts at 116 C. after recrystallizing from methanol.

Polymerization test: (a) 1 g. of this sulphone is dissolved in 100 g. of a mixture consisting of 70 g. of a polyester in 30 g. of

styrene. The polyester was prepared by esterifying 1 mol of phthalic acid anhydride, 1 mol of maleic anhydride, 1 mol of ethylene glycol and 1 mol of diethylene glycol by heating these components at 210 C. in a C0 atmosphere until the acid number of the reaction product is 8.1. By the addition of 2 g. of benzoyl peroxide the mixture hardens within 60 minutes with an increase of temperature of up to 150 C. By using 1 g. of tertiary butyl hydroperoxide, instead of benzoyl peroxide, the temperature is raised to about 170 C. already after minutes.

(b) In order to polymerize methacrylic acid methyl ester, 0.08 g. of the above sulphone of the melting point 116 C. are mixed with 2 cc. of methacrylic ester methylester and 3 g. of a pearl polymer. By addition of 0.1 g. of benzoyl peroxide, polymerization takes place within 20 minutes.

Example 5 29 g. of ethylidene acetoacetic acid methyl ester, thereafter 40 cc. of 10 normal sulphuric acid are added dropwise with stirring to a solution of 90 g. of the sodium salt of hydroxy methyl sulphinic acid,

CHr-C O CH-C H-SOFC H-C CO-OH;

CHg-OOC COOOH --Pal-yme; i at cn test: 0 -1 2. o s lnhonean 0- s. of tertiarybutyl permaleic luc d are mixed with 3.x. of polymethacrylic acid methyl ester in the form of pearls. 'Upquaduitinneta solution of 0.01 g. of ben y trimethyl hydroxi e .andlll ccof amber crylic acid in 1.9 cc.. of methacrylicacid methylestcr. the mixture hardens 8 minutes.

. 1 7 Example. 6

.21 9; sodium p ulphi e. a2 =i 4.2H2Q.) a dissolved i'n'500' cc. of watcrand cc. of acrylonitrile are added. The mixture is stirred at 25 C. for 60 minutes, adjusted to a pH value of 8-9 by addition of dilute sulphuric acid and then heated to 60 C. for two hours. The excess acrylonitrile is removed by extracting with ether. The aqueous layer is treated with animal charcoal and then filtered. The layer contains a mixture of equimolecular quantities of the sodium salts of cyano ethyl sulphim'c acid and cyano ethyl sulphonic acid. 70 g. of ethylidene acetoacetic acid ethylester and 50 cc. of 10 normal sulphuric acid are added to the solution with cooling and vigorous stirring. After the reaction has subsided, another 50 cc. of 10 normal sulphuric acid are added and stirring is continued for 30 minutes. The oily reaction product is taken up in benzene, Washed with water and dried. After distilling oil the benzene in vacuum, the residue is dissolved in tetrahydrofurane and the solution is caused to crystallize by the addition of ether. The crystals are subsequently recrystallized from alcohol. Yield: -160 g. The compound in which each of R and R represents a member of the group consisting of hydrogen and alkyl radicals. X represents a member of the group consisting of sulfur and S0 each of R and R represents a radical selected from the group consisting of -COZ, COOZ, CN and SO Z, wherein Z is a monovalent alkyl radical and R and R taken together represent a cycloaliphatic ring system containing two CO-groups which latter are bonded to the carbon of the group, and Y represents a member of the group consisting of an aryl radical, an alkyl radical, and

2. Process of claim 1 wherein the polymerization is conducted in a homogeneous phase. 

1. A PROCESS OF POLYMERIZING ETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED POLYMERIZABLE COMPOUNDS WHICH COMPRISES CONTACTING SAID ETHYLENICALLY UNSATURATED COMPOUNDS WITH A POLYMERIZATION CATALYST COMPRISING A COMPOUNT OF THE FORMULA. 